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And now the youngest native arose from her mat to bring a bowl of green crystal. One of her seniors took it in both hands, making a gesture of offering it to all three skulls, and then gazed over its rim at the Terran. "We shall cast the rods, man-who-thinks-without-a-guide. Perhaps then we shall see how strong your dreams are to be bent to your using, or to break you for your impudence."
"Thakur what am I supposed to do?" Jason shrugged. "That's up to you. Whatever a Sandeman 'na does when @'s no use any more, I suppose. Mentally you've always been more Sandeman than Terran anyway . . . yes, that would be best. Imitate your Sandeman idols again." He started to turn away. "Yes, Thakur."
He told them how the Empire had risen on a few planets five thousand light-years away, and how it had spread. "We will not repeat the mistakes of the Terran Federation. We will not attempt to force every planetary government into a common pattern, or dictate the ways in which they govern themselves. We will foster in every way peaceful trade and communication.
Since the captain's cordial welcome extended only to his guest, Dane regretfully descended to the mess cabin to make unskilled preparations for supper though there was not much you could do to foul up concentrates in an automatic cooker. "Company?" Tau sat beyond the cooking unit nursing a mug of Terran coffee. "And do you have to serve music with the meals, especially that particular selection?"
Survey teams had early discovered the advantage of using mutated and highly trained Terran animals as assistants in the exploration of strange worlds. From the biological laboratories and breeding farms on Terra came a trickle of specialized aides-de-camp to accompany man into space. Some were fighters, silent, more deadly than weapons a man wore at his belt or carried in his hands.
One of the fish in the lagoon? Or what he awaited? The Terran retreated as noiselessly as he had come, heading for the hollow where he had bedded down. He reached there breathless, his heart pumping, his mouth dry as if he had been racing. Taggi stirred and thrust a nose inquiringly against Shann's arm.
"Parked right in the middle of the Terran-type food production area," Travis was continuing. That was worrying him. Maybe he wasn't used to planets where the biochemistry wasn't Terra-type and a Terran would be poisoned or, at best, starve to death, on the local food; maybe, as a soldier he knew how fragile even the best logistics system can be. It was something to worry about.
When we intercept their calls they're pure gibberish to us. Can they read our codes?" "The supposition is that they can't. Only, concerning Throgs, all we know is supposition. Anyway, they do know the routine for establishing a Terran colony, and we can't alter that procedure except in small nonessentials," Thorvald said grimly.
As to this trick of using a lighter, I will undertake, in not more than thirty days, to teach it to any Terran primate or Freyan kholph." Greibenfeld rose immediately.
Tensely he waited. But when the reply came it did not pulse from the sonic under his fingers; instead, a well-remembered voice called out of the night. "A white wolf." And the words were Terran English. "Ashe!" Ross leaped forward, climbed toward the figure he could only dimly see. The Foanna "Ross!" Ashe's hands gripped his shoulders as if never intending to free him again.
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